The Asia Foundation

Technology & Innovation at The Asia Foundation

Innovation ecosystems are thriving in Asia. So whether it’s building smarter cities, connecting at-risk communities, or helping forge more sustainable, resilient societies, we’re working with the region’s most creative entrepreneurs and leaders to improve the lives of millions of Asia’s citizens.

Recent Projects


Open Platforms for Voter Information

During Myanmar’s historic 2015 election, the only consistently available and reliable sources of candidate information were smartphone apps developed using our Mae Pay Soh (“Let’s Vote”) voter information database and public API.


Crowdsourcing Women’s Safety

Safetipin helps Indian women use their smartphones to map security risks in urban areas. We help augment their data with information collected by professionally trained safety auditors who record additional street-level data on communities and cities in India.


Disaster Alerts on Every Device

During a disaster, information can save lives. We’re working with government disaster response experts in Thailand to disseminate emergency alerts on social media platforms, and share disaster data more openly using public APIs and online databases.


Remote Sensing & the Future of Cities

Using UAVs and earth-imaging satellites, we work with elected officials in Mongolia’s capital city to map informal communities and give local policy makers new tools to plan and improve service delivery in low-income neighborhoods.